Health Center Founders Busy Raising Funds

If all goes well, an Allentown church will be involved in healing not only the spirit, but the body and mind as well.

St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church, S. Hall and Wyoming streets, is "prayerfully" sponsoring a community healing center on a tract at 919-31 S. Lumber St., Allentown.

According to board spokesman Elizabeth Moore, president of the Lehigh County Conference of Churches, the sponsors hope to break ground for the center within a year. The cost, originally estimated at $250,000, now is expected to be close to $1 million.

A one-story building with full basement for offices is planned, Moore says. The steel work will be designed to support a future second floor.

The project was the idea of Dr. Richard Snyder, medical director of Allentown Osteopathic Medical Center who formerly practiced in the neighborhood. The chairman of the community healing center's board, he says the center will mean "the availability of services to meet the spiritual, emotional and health care needs of Allentown's South Side."

The nonprofit facility will provide offices for a general practitioner, a nurse practitioner, counselor, dentist and podiatrist. Services at the center would include pastoral counseling, self-help groups, Bible study groups, prayer support teams, social service assistance and psychological assessment and management.

The nurse practitioner would supervise other nurses making home visits. The center will have a chapel because "We're coming from a specifically Christian viewpoint," Moore points out.

Moore says medical personnel in the center would have to be of the opinion that healing comes from being whole in spirit. The center is being described as a family health care center, though, rather than a holistic one because of some misconceptions regarding the definition of holistic medicine, Dr. Snyder says.

The Rev. William Dunbar Evans III, vicar of St. Elizabeth's and a healing center board member, describes the project as "an incarnation of God's love" and says the church pledges a certain amount each month toward the center. The church also allows the board to use its facilities.

Board treasurer Ray Kirwan says the group bought the land on faith believing that "If the Lord wants us to have this, the money will be there. So far," he notes, "we have met every payment with donations." He says some board members put up their personal property as collateral for the loan.

Attorney for the project, Howard Snyder, who is looking into ways to finance the facility, says the group has been "pursuing a number of different avenues." One of the things that slowed them down, he says, was the year-long wait for tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service. Now that the group has the exemption, it can seek tax deductible funds from the public.

Atty. Snyder says the board is approaching various public and private foundations and asking for grants for programming as well as for as the building. The attorney says financing probably will come from a combination of significant contributions from individuals and foundations and from professionals willing to put some of their own money into the project. The board already has preliminarily explored the limited partnership angle, he says.

Dr. Snyder and Atty. Snyder believe the reason they've not yet received any grants is because funding usually comes after the bricks and mortar are in place.

Although the board consists mainly of members of St. Elizabeth's, the center will not be tied legally with any denomination, Moore says. The bylaws specify residents from the neighborhood must be on the board. Other board members include Dr. Snyder's wife Audrey, secretary; Ruth Messinger; Robert H. Speirs; Nancy Dal Pezzo, R.N.;the Rev. Richard. A. Cohoon, and Dr. Wayne E. Moyer.

Moore believes this will be the first church-sponsored comprehensive healthcare center in Allentown. The reason for building the center is that no family medical practice exists in that area of Allentown. "We want to fulfill a need we see in the neighborhood," Moore says.

She says the board is particularly excited about the fact that the neighbors have formed an auxiliary which appeared before the zoning board with the group.

Auxiliary president and secretary Linda Kline says the organization hopes more neighbors will become involved. "The auxiliary is not just for women," she emphasizes. "Anybody's invited to help us out. We need fresh ideas. We have a fund raiser each month," Kline says, mentioning the hoagie sales and bake sale the organization sponsored recently.

One professional person, Dr. Wayne Moyer, a podiatrist, already has made a commitment to the center, and several others have expressed interest in the project. Dr. Moyer, who says he's "interested in being part of a total health care team," comments: "It's the type of health care we should be giving patients."

The Rev. Richard A. Cohoon, a psychotherapist and instructor with the Pastoral Institute of the Lehigh Valley, says the institute hopes to have an office in the center. "It's a dream for all of us. As it nears fulfillment, it's like a dream coming true."

Neighbors of the church will not have to wait for the completion of the center, though, to benefit from planned health care programs. Dal Pezzo says the center plans to hold a series of health screenings in the church basement starting in early summer. These will be open to anyone in the community.

On June 15, a block party will be held on the Lumber Street site 1-7 p.m to raise money for the healing center. A disk jockey will be on hand all day and a live band will bepart of the entertainment. A similar event was held last year.